I am grateful to be invited to be a witness at this colloquium. I am especially grateful for the opportunity to give evidence that a man and a woman united in marriage have a transcendent power to create happiness for themselves, for their family, and for the people around them. The evidence I offer begins when I was a single man. I thought I was happy. An assignment in my church took me to a meeting in New Hampshire. As the meeting ended, I saw in the crowd a young woman. I had never seen her before. But the feeling came over me-- if I could only be with her, I could become every good thing I ever wanted to be. We were married a year after I first saw her. The words spoken in the ceremony included a promise that we might be husband and wife in this life and for eternity. I have become a better person as I have loved and lived with her.

We have been complementary beyond anything I could have imagined. Our unique abilities allowed us to become partners with God in creating human life. Spouses and family members can lift each other and ascend together if they care about the interests of the other more than they care of their own. Those are things people must do for us to have a renaissance of happy marriages and productive families, even when that happy result is slow to come and when the loud voices mock the effort. We can and must stand up and defend the institution of marriage between a man and a woman. The Lord will multiply our efforts as we join together in this work. I promise progress toward that happy result. And I do it in the name of Jesus Christ, whom I serve and whose witness I am. Amen.